(c.1797–November 26, 1883), was an American abolitionist. A slave herself, she was freed in 1827 and who moved with her family to New York. In 1843, she heard “a voice from Heaven,” and began to travel the North preaching emancipation of the slaves. In the mid–1860’s, she relocated in Washington, D.C., and helped resettle ex-slaves. A strong part of the abolitionist movement, Sojourner Truth stated:
When I left the house of bondage I left everything behind. I wanted to keep nothing of Egypt on me, and so I went to the Lord and asked him to give me a new name. …
I set up my banner, and then I sing, and then folks always comes up ’round me, and then … I tells them about Jesus.2119
Sojourner Truth frequently began her messages by saying:
Children, I talk to God and God talks to me.2120
At an abolitionist meeting in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Frederick Douglass had spoken saying that the slaves had no hope except their own strength and desire to fight for themselves. Sojourner Truth quietly asked him:
Frederick, is God dead?2121